How to Fight Back Against Dynamic Pricing

Right now, one of the key challenges for businesses is controlling the sales of their products on the marketplaces- particularly Amazon.

‍Vorys eControl works to help these businesses—many of which are trying to grow on the market places however third-party sellers are causing price drops- harming the brand. Before eCommerce marketplaces, businesses had much more control over pricing. Today, if a third-party seller lists a product for lower on Amazon, potential customers can immediately see this lower price.

Often, brands will hear that they need to set a MAP policy. Unfortunately, this is often too little, too late. Authorized sellers don’t want to comply when unauthorized sellers are already selling for much lower. This is why Vorys turned to integrated e-control solutions. This is more than just a MAP policy- it also includes comprehensive monitoring, investigations, and enforcement, along with grey market control and an authorized reseller policy.

Many businesses need a comprehensive strategy tailored specifically to their brand, marketplaces, goals, country, and more. The first things brands need to do is decide how they want to distribute on the marketplace. The companies that are doing the best in terms of pricing control and brand protection are not simply letting their brick-and-mortar sellers list their products online.

Whichever path a business owner chooses to use for selling their products, they need to be prepared to create an authorized reseller policy. Typically, this allows resellers to sell their products on their own websites, but not Amazon or other online marketplaces.

It’s a good idea to start cleaning up the marketplace before setting up a MAP. Vorys has found a three-step process to work well when creating a strategy.

The first stage is to create a roadmap for control. This is usually a 30-day plan to build the foundation before rolling out the enforcement plan. Stage two is preparing the foundational policies. These can include authorized/distributor reseller policies, pricing policies, and more. Stage three is all about comprehensive enforcement, which includes monitoring/data consulting, volume enforcement, and escalated enforcement when necessary.

It’s hard to grow when you’re not in control

Most online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and eBay are using dynamic pricing, and see price as the primary consumer factor when it comes to the customer experience. At Pattern, one of the main ways we’ve been able to help brands grow is by helping them regain control over their brand. We do this by using data to drive our success.

First, we help brands protect themselves by implementing warehouse quality controls, review monitoring and responses, and monitor customer experience, feedback, and returns.

Next, we focus on growth. For e-commerce, this is a simple formula: Traffic x Conversion x Basket size = success. When it comes to traffic, we focus on SEO optimization and ensure we own the buy box, so we can have a larger impact on the listings themselves. Once brands own the buy box, they can optimize their content to increase conversions. This drives more sales, which pushes these products up the search rankings. We use an enormous amount of data to help us understand the optimal basket size.

We also bundle products to ensure the best possible profitability, and help brands maintain their subscribe and save programs. Comprehensive control unlocks unprecedented potential for growth. When businesses capture more marketplace share, they benefit from higher sales.

This control also leads to higher consumer satisfaction since products are coming from an authorized distributor- going through quality control and always arriving in one piece.

Do you need to fight back against dynamic pricing? We can help. Get in touch today.